The present invention relates to a clamp and, more particularly, to a vacuum-mounted clamp for use in product manufacturing.
Product manufacturing often requires working two adjacent product components. These components may be unconnected and require work such as drilling and/or being fastened together. Such work requires adjacent components to be securely held together to avoid relative motion between the components.
Holding adjacent product components together is often difficult because of the high forces required to work the components while they are secured together and/or because of the size of the components. Holding components together can be especially challenging when one of them is a large panel that must be worked at an interior area spaced away from sides of the panel. Traditional clamps (e.g., C clamps, screw clamps, sash clamps, and pipe clamps) are ineffective to securely clamp another component to the panel and to ensure against relative motion at the interior area.
In one conventional method of securing a large panel component of a product to another product component, one or more personnel hold the components together using their hands or wooden blocks or sticks. This conventional method results in inconsistent securing and is labor intensive. Further, more labor is required to ensure product quality after the components are worked. In another conventional method, a temporary fastener is inserted into a first hole formed in the components. However, this conventional method cannot be used to ensure accurate formation of the first hole. Another conventional method involves using a spreader tool that forces opposing flanges apart when working one of the flanges and a panel positioned adjacent that flange to keep the flange from moving away from the panel during a drilling. This conventional method can only be performed where there is a sturdy object opposite the flange to be worked and the method is also labor intensive because implementation requires precise placement of the tool to avoid interference with the drill.